Clinton pledges long-term support for Haiti's recovery

[G_j]

Source: AP



Clinton pledges long-term support for Haiti's recovery
US pegs $302m for job creation, hurricane relief

By Jonathan M. Katz
Associated Press / April 17, 2009

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton assured Haitians yesterday that the latest aid from America is not just a short-term fix for a country still struggling from last year's devastating storms and grinding poverty that is among the worst in the world.

Clinton told reporters after riding in her motorcade through the pothole-strewn roads of the capital, Port-au-Prince, that she and President Obama have a shared goal of creating jobs and ensuring stability in a country that has had little of either in recent years.

"The president and I had an excellent conversation reiterating what is his great hope: that he will see progress begun and finished to give the future back to the people of Haiti," she said at a news conference inside the National Palace.

The United States, Haiti's largest benefactor, pledged $50 million in new aid at a donors conference Tuesday in Washington, bringing the American total for the year to $302 million.

In all, the international donors conference raised $324 million for Haiti despite entreaties from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon; Bill Clinton, the former president; and others that $600 million more is needed for economic development and hurricane recovery.

Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/world/latinamerica/articles/2009/04/17/clinton_pledges_long_term_support_for_haitis_recovery/

[L0oniX]

1. Yea well ...stop subsidising American rice farmers and dumping on Haiti.

<snip>The trade liberalization policies at their center have involved the lowering Haiti's lowest tariffs on rice imports. Currently the rice import tariff is 3%, which is much lower than rice import tariffs of all other nations in the Caribbean Community. The Haitian market is now flooded with US rice imports ("Miami rice") and some have accused the US of dumping its rice in Haiti. The impact of the decline of rice production in Haiti has been devastating to its rural population which is already desperately poor.

http://www1.american.edu/TED/haitirice.htm